The foundation says ibises are our friends, citing four reasons to love the bird.

1) Ibises make great gardeners, eating bugs that destroy gardens

Ibis are common at South Bank.

Photo: Bradley Kanaris

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2) Ibises fight locust plagues for farmers

3) Ibises are romantic, during breeding season males bow to the females and present a special branch to the female partner that flies over to him

4) Ibises have nowhere else to go; their natural habitats are destroyed because of water being diverted from wetlands to farmland, along with severe drought.

According to the list, even though ibises can be irritating when people are trying to enjoy a picnic due to their tendency to snatch lunches, they have their advantages. With their long beaks, they aerate the soil in our garden beds, and by eating beetle larvae, they protect our plants.

Ibis making off with its haul at South Bank.

Photo: Bradley Kanaris

The foundation's Felicity Harvey says that educating people about the ibis and other native Australian wildlife through their Backyard Buddies program helps eradicate misconceptions about animals.

"A lot of people don't know what species are in their local area or what they can do to help them, and how those animals can benefit their local area," Ms Harvey said.

Ibises' natural habitats have been destroyed because of water being diverted from wetlands to farmland, along with severe drought.

Photo: Bradley Kanaris

"There's very limited knowledge on that."

She says behaviours the ibises exhibit are a product of the environment they live in, which, as a result of the destruction of their habitat from urban development, is now our cities.

"These ibis are naturally incredibly migratory. In the wild they move from wetland to wetland, they are very mobile. Ibis are becoming more sedentary, more comfortable in their new environment. They have abundant food, clean fresh water, palm trees to nest in," she said.

Editor of Birdlife Australia's magazine Sean Dooley says ibises are also extremely important to farmers in the midst of a locust infestation.

"They're known as the farmer's friend because they eat a lot of locusts and other paddock pests," he said.

Despite appearing so numerous, the ibises that live in urban environments are not doing very well, as the food they eat from rubbish bins is not ideal.

"The ibis that live in the cities are actually less healthy than those breeding in wild conditions," he said.

Ms Harvey says that ultimately, the ibises are trying to adapt to the environment they were forced into.

"We're trying to show them in a different light. They're not the bad guys, they've just found these oases in our cities that they are just trying to make their homes," she said.